1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a flying toy device, and more particularly, that is, hand thrown objects designed to sail up in the air and return to the thrower in a complex flight path, first, in an initial flight path in a boomerang pattern, and, second, in a final flight path in a spirally helicopter pattern.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
The most common and universally recognized boomerangs are formed of curved wood or plastic. Thrown with force and developed skill, they return to the user with significant reliability. Many improvements and designs have more recently been developed which are intended to improve the reliability of return and reduce the strength and skill required to achieve reliable flight and return. One such improvement is the multi-wing boomerang which has two or more wings centrally pivoted by a bolt and nut. The wings are positioned in their desired angular relationship and the nut tightened to frictionally secure the wings in that relationship.
On returning to earth, the boomerang sometimes inadvertently strikes an object or a person. A correctly adjusted multi-wing boomerang will collapse on striking an object or person, thereby minimizing the inertial effect, and minimizing damage or injury. In collapsing, the wings rotate at the pivot, thereby absorbing much of the striking impact. Additionally, many prior art boomerangs with multiple wings rely upon bolts and nuts which frequently are tightened to the point where excessive force is required to cause collapse, thereby increasing the probability of damage or injury to a struck object or person. They are over-tightened to better ensure against an inadvertent collapse during the throwing operation. If the pivot nut is under-tightened, the wings may collapse from the torque arising from the throwing motion thereby aborting or causing an erratic or unpredictable flight.
Additionally, these prior art multi-winged devices have somewhat unpredictable flight paths and are not aerodynamically maximized with respect to shape and weight distribution. The following are representative of the prior art:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,035,629 to Russell T. Wing describes a boomerang comprising freely rotatable blades and a car swivelled to the blades and adapted to follow the line of flight while the blades rotate. The rotatable blades project so that they serve as handles by which the device may be thrown. It also has blades which give a rotary motion on the swivelling connection between the same and car.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,431 to Paul J. Callahan describes a toy plastic boomerang having two interconnected wings arranged for free rotation on a vertical hollow handle with ballast therein to control the speed of descent. To propel, the user grasps one wing between the fingers so that the wings extend vertically with the handle extending laterally and throws the boomerang forward and vertically at a slight upward arc of approximately 45.degree..
U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,962 to Stephen J. Flemming describes a boomerang comprising a pair of elongated, airfoils coupled together at their midsections to form a cross. Mechanism is provided for releasably coupling the midportions of the airfoils for separation under a predetermined force to normally prevent relative rotation of the airfoils.
Notwithstanding the prior art, the present invention is neither taught nor rendered obvious thereby.